1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to the field of thermal containers primarily used in the shipping or storage of goods, foodstuffs, samples and the like items that must be maintained within predetermined temperature ranges for predetermined periods of time in order to ensure the safety and quality of such items. More particularly, the invention is directed to collapsible insulated bags that are designed to allow items held therein to be maintain within predetermined temperatures, either hot or cold, for extended periods of time. The collapsible bags are ideal for long distance shipment of perishable items such as foods, samples and medical items, and may also be used for catering, take-out as well as for traditional cooler functions.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
There are numerous industries wherein the safe transportation or shipment and storage of temperature sensitive products or samples is critical to the preservation of the products or samples. Medical supplies, samples, transplants and the like must often be maintained within controlled temperatures during periods of shipment from suppliers to users, providers to patients, and between operating facilities. With the popularity of online grocery shopping growing, there is also a need to improve upon insulated packaging for transporting goods such as frozen foods from temperature controlled environments to the end-consumers. Frequently, delivered packages may have to be left for extended periods in less than optimal ambient conditions before a consumer actually takes possession of the goods being shipped.
Currently, to maintain shipped items at optimal temperatures, options have been tried which include foam coolers, dry ice packs or boxes and insulated storage bags. Each of these options comes with drawbacks, including limited lengths of time for maintaining goods or items at optimal temperatures, environmental impact or safety concerns and increased shipping cost to cover container weight and/or size or express deliveries.
Foam coolers combined with dry ice packs can, in some instances, effectively maintain items at optimal temperatures, However, their use is costly in both supply costs and excess shipping costs. In addition, foam coolers have a negative impact on the environment and the handling of dry ice packs can raise safety concerns.
Dry ice packs have been used alone to ship and deliver perishable items. However, their ability to maintain optimal temperatures for extended periods of time while in a standard cardboard container is extremely poor.
Other bags have been used for short term transportation of perishable items. However, their use is limited to only conveyance of the item and not for maintaining the item in an optimal temperature range for any significant period of time, such as more than one to three hours or more.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need to provide insulated shipping containers that can provide greater insulating properties to ensure that goods, foodstuffs, medical supplies and samples and other items that are temperature sensitive may be safely shipped and maintained within necessary temperatures for greater periods of time than is possible using conventional shipping containers.
There is a further need to provide insulated shipping and transportation containers that can also be compactly configured to reduce shipping and transportation costs without reducing the insulating properties thereof.